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Ades Pater supreme. Prudentius* (ca. 348- ca. 413).
According to Frost (1962, p. 200) this comes from poem 6 of Prudentius's Cathereminon, the poem written for the hours of the day. This is the 'Hymnus ante somnum'. It consists of lines 1-12, 125-8, 141-52, and a doxology:
Gloria aeterno Patri, Et Christo, vero Regi, Paraclitoque sancto, et nunc et in perpetuum.
The selection of lines was found as a hymn in a 10th-century hymnal from Laon, in northern France, now at Bern (S.B. 455). It is a...
Camina, pueblo de Dios (Walk on [Go forth], O people of God). Cesáreo Gabaráin* (1936–1991)
'Camina, pueblo de Dios' (1979) looks at the Resurrection of Christ, not only as the most significant event in Christian history, but also as a sign of hope for God's people on the journey toward reconciliation and justice. The standard English translation was prepared by George Lockwood* in 1987 for UMH. His translation of the refrain follows:
Walk on, O people of God;Walk on, O people of God!A new law,...
Cantiga is Spanish for 'song', and there is a large tradition of secular lyric cantigas from the Iberian peninsula, most of which survive without music. The Cantigas de Santa Maria, the 'songs for the Blessed Virgin Mary', however, are approximately 450 religious songs with melodies, in Portuguese-Galician. The collection was created ca. 1270-90 under the supervision of King Alfonso X el Sabio (the wise, or learned) of Castile and León (1221-1284; ascended to the throne in 1252). It is...
GABARÁIN, Cesáreo. b. Hernani, Gipúzkoa, Basque Country, Spain, 16 May 1936; d. Antzuola, Spain, 30 April 1991. Monseñor Cesáreo Gabaráin was one of the best-known composers of Spanish liturgical music following the reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). He was inspired by the feelings and actions of the humble people he met during his ministry. His hymns were recorded on thirty-seven albums (the last completed posthumously). He is the only Roman Catholic Church composer to receive...
Corde natus ex Parentis. Aurelius Clemens Prudentius* (ca. 348-ca. 413).
This hymn is part of the Cathemerinon of Prudentius, Hymn IX, 'Hymnus Omnis Horae', beginning 'Da puer plectrum' (under which heading it is found in JJ, p. 276) (lines 10-12, 19-27, 109-11).
It was in use by the 11th century, being found in the Leofric Collectar, dating from the third quarter of the 11th century, and originating in Exeter. In this manuscript (London, British Library, Harleian 2961), the hymn is prescribed...
ARÉVALO, Faustino (S.J.). b. Campanario, Badajoz, Spain, 29 July 1747; d. Madrid, 7 January 1824. Arévalo entered the novitiate in 1761 at Villagarcía de Campos, in the province of Castile. There, together with his training as a Jesuit, he received a solid humanistic education which would be reflected later in his work. In 1764, one year after taking his religious vows, he continued his education at the seminary at Medina del Campo, until the expulsion from Spain of the Society of Jesus in...
XAVIER, Francis. b. Xavier, Navarre, Spain, 7 April 1506; d. Shang Chuan, near China, 3 December 1552. He was born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta in a new castle ('Xavier' in the Basque language) belonging to his aristocratic family in the kingdom of Navarre: the kingdom was invaded and divided during his youth, and the castle was reduced in size by the order of Cardinal Cisneros (see 'Spanish hymnody'*). He was educated at the Collège Sainte Barbe in Paris (1525- ), where he met Ignatius...
GUERRERO, Francisco. b. Seville, 1527 or 1528; d. Seville, 8 November 1599. Guerrero was engaged as a singer in the cathedral of his native Seville in 1542. He was taught music by his brother Pedro, and subsequently by Cristóbal de Morales in Toledo in 1545–1546. In the latter year, and with Morales's support, Guerrero secured the post of maestro de capilla at Jaén Cathedral. He was again in the service of Seville Cathedral from 1549, remaining there until his death. Placed in charge of the...
NAVARRO, Juan. b. 1525–1530; d. 25 September 1580. Born in the region of Marchena, in 1549 Navarro was a tenor singer in the service of the Duke of Arcos in that town, and subsequently sang at Jaén Cathedral and then Málaga Cathedral (1553-1555). He went on to hold the post of maestro de capilla successively at the collegiate church in Valladolid (from 1562) and the cathedrals of Ávila (from 1564), Salamanca (from 1566), Ciudad Rodrigo (from 1574), and Palencia (from 1578), where he died.
In...
This is the name given to the liturgy used by Christians in the Iberian peninsula living under the rule of the moors before the reconquest of Spain. Because it was in use before the coming of the Arabs, the designation 'Mozarabic' tends to be avoided by modern scholars; 'Old Hispanic' is usually preferred. This liturgical rite was superseded, not without resistance, when the Roman liturgy was imposed on Spain by order of the Council of Burgos in 1080. It remained in use in some Toledan parish...
Nada te turbe. St Teresa of Avila* (1515-1582).
According to P. Silverio, the editor of the works of Saint Teresa, these lines were found in the Breviary that she used in prayer during the Divine Office when she was dying at Alba de Tormes ('Guardaba Santa Teresa estas sentencias en el breviario que usaba para el rezo del oficio divino, cuando murió en Alba de Tormes'). They were:
Nada te turbe,
nada te espante,
todo se pasa;
Dios no se muda.
La paciencia
todo lo alcanza
quien a Dios...
Nox et tenebrae et nubila. Aurelius Clemens Prudentius* (ca. 348-ca. 413).
This is a hymn constructed from lines in Prudentius' Cathereminon II. It was sung at Lauds on Wednesdays (Milfull, Hymns of the Anglo-Saxon Church, 1996, p. 156). The four-stanza text, followed by the doxology, 'Deo patri sit gloria' is in Daniel, Thesaurus Hymnologicus I. 120-1, and in Analecta Hymnica 50. 23-4, with the doxology 'Praesta, pater piissime'. AH identifies the lines as Cathereminon II. 1-8; 48, 49, 52, 57,...
O sola magnarum urbium. Aurelius Clemens Prudentius* (ca. 348- ca. 413). This hymn consists of stanzas from the twelfth poem in Prudentius' Liber Cathemerinon, the 'Book of the Christian Day' with poems for the hours of the day. This poem, the 'Hymnus Epiphaniae', beginning 'Quicumque Christum quaeritis', is also the source of 'Salvete, flores martyrum'* ('Sweet flow'rets of the martyr band'* in the Second Edition of A&M, 1875).
As the Latin title signifies ('O incomparable of great...
PRUDENTIUS, Aurelius Clemens. b. ca. 348; d. ca. 413. Born in Spain, perhaps at Zaragoza, of a good family, he became a lawyer. According to his verse autobiography, prefixed to his poems, he was a judge in two cities. He visited Rome, where he may have been awarded a court office in the service of the Emperor Theodosius. He retired in his 57th year, unsatisfied by the worldliness of his existence. He spent the remainder of his life in the practice of religion, and devoted himself to the...
Salvete, flores martyrum. Aurelius Clemens Prudentius* (ca. 348-ca. 413).
This hymn is from the Liber Cathereminon of Prudentius. It is part of the twelfth poem, the 'Hymnus Epiphaniae', beginning 'Quicumque Christum quaeritis' (from this poem comes also 'O sola magnarum urbium'*). This selection, beginning at stanza 32 of Prudentius's poem, is preceded by a graphic and terrible description of the massacre of the innocents. The selection is gentler and more reflective. It is a touching and...
Most office services for St. James the Greater (Sant'Iago) use hymns from the Common of Apostles or Martyrs. However, the service at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, preserved in the 12-century Codex Calixtinus, used four proper hymns:
'Psallat chorus celestium' (f. 101v);
'Sanctissime O Iacobe' (f. 103r);
'Felix per omnes' (f. 104v); and
'Iocundetur et letetur' (f. 105v).
These hymns are spread across all the feasts of James celebrated at Compostela: the vigil (July 24), the...
Sois la semilla ('You are the seed'). Cesáreo Gabaráin*; translated by Raquel Gutiérrez-Achón* and Skinner Chávez-Melo*.
'Sois la semilla' is based on the Great Commission, Matthew 28: 19–20: 'Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world' (ASV). This is articulated in the...
This entry is in two parts. The first, on the early and medieval period, is by Carmen Julia Gutiérrez; the second, from 1502 onwards, is by Elena Gallego Moya/ Jose Fco. Ortega Castejón.
Part 1: Early and Medieval
The hymns of the Hispanic Liturgy
The Hispanic rite was used in the Iberian Peninsula until the 11th century, except for Marca Hispánica and the Bracarense province, where the Romano-Frankish rite was followed from the 8th century. The texts of the Hispanic rite were compiled by...
TERESA of Avila, St. b. Gotarrendura, Avila, Spain, 28 March 1515; d. Alba de Tormes, 4 October 1582. She was born into a prosperous merchant family. Her intense idealism was shown in childhood when, at the age of seven, she went with her brother Rodrigo to look for the Moors with the intention of being martyred (see the Prelude to Middlemarch, by George Eliot: they were brought back by an uncle, who happened to see them). In 1536 she entered the Carmelite* convent of the Incarnation at Avila....
THEODULF of Orleans. b. Spain, ca. 760; d. Angers, France, 18 December 821. Theodulf was born and educated in Visigothic Spain. His flight to Francia was probably as a result of Moorish incursions; he was at the court of Charlemagne by the early 790s. An intimate of the court, Theodulf was made bishop of Orleans by Charlemagne c. 798 as well as being granted the abbacies of Fleury, Micy and Saint-Aignan, all in the neighbourhood of Orleans. Theodulf was involved in Frankish politics at the...
VICTORIA, Tomás Luis de. b. Ávila, Spain, ca. 1548; d. Madrid, 27 August 1611. Victoria was a choirboy at Ávila Cathedral. He studied from about 1565 at the Collegio Germanico in Rome, and taught there from 1571. In 1575 he was ordained to the priesthood. His clerical activities in Rome included a chaplain's position at S. Gerolamo della Carità (from probably 1582 until 1585) and charitable work for the Archconfraternity of the Resurrection, for which he also occasionally provided music. As a...
Tú has venido a la orilla (Pescador de Hombres) (Lord, you have come to the lakeshore). Cesáreo Gabaráin* (1936–1991).
'Pescador de Hombres' ('Fisher of Men'), the original Spanish title, is the most published of Gabaráin's hymns. In translation, the first line is 'Lord, you have come to the lakeshore'. The hymn first appeared in the composer's Dios con nosotros: cantos de la iglesia (Madrid, 1974). The most used English translation in Protestant collections is by Raquel Gutiérrez-Achón*,...
The word 'Ultreia' has the meaning of 'onward', or 'keep going', and is used as an encouragement to pilgrims on the way to the shrine of St James at Santiago de Compostella in north-west Spain. This was part of a Europe-wide movement of devotion and travel to shrines of importance (see 'In Gottes Namen fahren wir'*). Ultreia has given its name to a pilgrim hymn. In Pedro Echevarria Bravo's Cancionero de los Peregrinos de Santiago (1967), chapter 1 is entitled 'El Canto de “Ultreia”', with a...
Una espiga dorada por el sol. Cesáreo Gabaráin* (1936–1991), translated by George Lockwood*.
'Una espiga' ('Sheaves of summer', 1973), a hymn on the theme of Christian unity, first appeared in North America in Alabemos al Señor (Veracruz, Mexico, 1976), a collection published by the Seminario Regional del Sureste. Gertrude Suppe*, a collector of Spanish-language hymnody, described the song's hypothetical transmission from Spain to Latin America: 'Someone evidently came from Spain with a...